Respite
by Lady Aeryn
Summary: Anakin. Padmé. A deserted corridor. You do the math.


**Title: **Respite  
**Author:** Aeryn  
**Rating: **Strong PG-13/Mild R (from me? *gasp*)  
**Characters/Pairing: **Anakin/Padmé; mentions of Obi-Wan and Ahsoka.  
**Timeframe: **Sometime during the Clone Wars.  
**Summary:** Inspired by those lovely A/P shots from the new _Clone Wars_ visual guide. Originally planned on this being just a faintly angsty bowl of mush, not a quick shag in a closet, but really. A/P alone in some corridor, on the same ship as Obi-Wan, haven't seen each other in months... how does that _not_ beg for covert nookie?  
**Author's Notes: **Written pre-"Destroy _Malevolence_," so the show's unraveled this particular scene (though I'll eat my shoe if there _weren't_ ever moments like this in their marriage). I wrote most of this in one shot - an _extreme_ rarity - and it's unbetaed, so any mistakes are cheerfully mine.  
**Disclaimer: **George owns it all, otherwise the movies and TV series would be full of scenes like this and gratuitous shots of Anakin showering. *eyes momentarily glaze over*

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"Kriff it, when are you ever going to learn to - ?"

"When am _I_ going to learn - ?"

Anakin's nostrils flared and he'd turned his pilot's chair to face Obi-Wan, his mouth just opened to shoot off another retort, when a soft hand on his upper arm and a voice like silk-covered steel interjected -

"Shall I contact Master Yoda and ask him if he can spare one of the Creche masters? Or better yet, Padawan Tano? It'd be quite refreshing to have another adult on this ship."

Both Obi-Wan and Anakin turned in surprise to the Senator from Naboo. Somehow, in the course of their argument, they'd both managed to miss noticing her walk up behind them.

As was often the case when she was in this mood, Padmé Amidala managed to seem at least a foot taller than her actual height - or make those she was addressing feel a foot shorter. Anakin - who'd been on the receiving end of that look more than he cared to admit - again found himself quite relieved the Council had decided for Ahsoka to stay behind on Coruscant this time. Apart from wanting as few complications as possible in stealing time alone with Padmé (and Ahsoka Tano was a huge complication at the best of times), he knew his new Padawan would have had fervent joy in endlessly ribbing her oh-so-heroic Master for being dressed-down by someone no taller than her.

Anakin saw Obi-Wan's eyes flick down to the small hand curled around Anakin's arm and narrow ever so slightly, but the elder Jedi didn't say a word. Padmé crossed her arms at her waist, her face impassive. But there was a spark in her brilliant brown eyes that brooked no dispute - not unlike when she had come between him and Obi-Wan in her apartment when they'd argued about tracking her would-be assassin.

"My apologies, milady," Obi-Wan said with a slight incline of his head. Padmé wouldn't likely have noticed it, but Anakin caught the barest quirk in Obi-Wan's lips that was the only outward sign he'd been at all mollified by the young Senator.

Even knowing part of her annoyance was directed at him, pride and desire rose in Anakin. Again he marveled that this incredibly strong and beautiful woman had chosen _him_ as her husband. His thoughts flickered to a future where at such a display from Padmé he could grin and declare openly to anyone near him, "that's _my_ wife." He resisted the urge to smile smugly at Obi-Wan. Barely.

"If I could have a word, Master Skywalker?" she asked smoothly, her face still stony when it turned to him. The title gave him a bit of a start; he still hadn't yet entirely wrapped his mind around the fact that he _was_ someone's Master now.

Anakin glanced pointedly at Obi-Wan, who was just as pointedly ignoring him now, his attention now on the navigation console's readout. "Of course, Senator."

He followed Padmé out into the corridor, trying not to look too eager about it, even once the door to the cockpit sealed behind them. But to Anakin's surprise, she kept walking when they were well out of earshot of the cockpit, still not talking to him. He began to wonder if somehow he _had_ genuinely upset her with his argument with Obi-Wan. That tinged his mood darker. This was the first he'd seen his wife in three months, and -

She turned the corner into a little-used utility corridor and finally stopped. Anakin recalled from the schematics that it was one of a handful places on the ship where there were no security or surveillance devices whatsoever. His mood took a decidedly upward turn again. She turned to face him. That spark in her eyes was still there, but tempered by a sort of wry amusement now.

"Some things never change," she said.

"What?"

"You and Obi-Wan," she went on, quirking one corner of her perfect mouth upward. "Bickering like an old married couple. Perhaps I should have left you two alone instead?"

Despite his wife's attempt at levity, Anakin's lips tightened at the reminder of Obi-Wan, his face hardening into a scowl. "If he would just _trust_ me for once - he's flown with me for eleven years and not once have either of us been maimed or killed, in fact I've _saved_our lives more than once with this 'reckless haphazard behavior' - Padmé stifled a giggle at the exaggerated Obi-Wan impression - "and yet he _still_ - "

_"Anakin."_

The single word brought his tirade's momentum to a screeching halt; belatedly, Anakin felt a brush of heat on his cheeks. Yes, definitely a good thing Ahsoka wasn't here.

She rubbed his arm. "You know he trusts you," she went on soothingly. "This mission is just hard on all of us."

"I know, I know." He moved a hand to cover hers, stroking it with his thumb. Already he felt his annoyance draining away as his mind filled more and more with Padmé - the feel of her skin under his own, the way her eyes seemed to completely drink him in. "Just the idea that he thinks I would go out of my way to do something dangerous, with you aboard..."

"Hasn't stopped you before," she said, smile widening as she took a step closer. Even after dreaming of her for ten years, and being married to her for one, the sight still made the Jedi warrior's pulse race.

"Charging off to Geonosis was _your_ idea," he countered, returning the smile as she took one more step forward. He could feel her heat touch his and his blood rushed unnaturally loudly in his ears.

Raising up on tiptoe, she laced both her arms around his neck. He responded with a contented sigh and by winding his own arms around her waist. He pulled her nearly flush with him, his hands cupping her firm backside. Anakin forgot their train of conversation completely, and doubted Padmé cared anymore either.

Her face was so near her own sigh stirred the tiny hairs on his cheek. She stared up at him through smoky eyes that flashed with desire even in the dim lighting. She opened her mouth as if to say something -

- and Anakin was actually rocked backward half a step as his mouth was suddenly covered with hers. He barely had time to open his lips to her ravenous tongue, eagerly twining it with his own, as her fingers lost themselves in his lengthening hair.

"Anakin..." she exhaled, finishing the word on another kiss, "I've missed you."

He nosed her chin upward and slowly drew the tip of his tongue down the soft perfumed column of her neck, occasionally pausing to nibble the ivory skin. She inhaled sharply and her fingers tightened against the back of his head when his mouth found the hollow of her throat and began to suckle vigorously. Her nails lanced into his scalp.

"Padmé," he breathed against her pulse, her name as always a prayer from his lips. No torture the Separatists could visit on him had compared to sitting so close to Padmé in that cockpit, not having seen her in months, and not able to show any sign that simply knowing she was near made him happier than since the last time he was on Naboo. Part of him had even wondered - briefly - how hard it would be to get Obi-Wan to stop next to an airlock that just happened to be unsecured.

Moving his mouth back up to hers, he swept his hands into her long dark hair to unhook the clasp holding it back from her face. The clasp clattered to the deck and he groaned as he felt the silken strands flow over his fingertips. Probably for the purpose of mission practicality - much easier to pull back - she'd had her hair straightened, no trace of the luxuriant curls it naturally held. While part of him missed them, the exquisite softness and smell was the same, and in any case, _she_ was in his arms again; he wouldn't have given a damn if she were bald.

With a moan she pulled her mouth away and went up further on tiptoe, nuzzling behind his ear. Anakin hissed and shuddered as she took his earlobe between her teeth, alternately sucking and swirling it with her tongue. She began to grind her pelvis against his in a matching rhythm, and he felt his pants grow almost painfully tight. Gods, it had been so _long_. He didn't give a damn this wasn't happening in their huge bed in their suite in the lake country, or even on the sleep couch in his cramped quarters - all that mattered was that it was _her_, and it was _now_, and he couldn't wait a minute longer to touch her again.

He clumsily freed his hands from her hair to slide under the hem of her tunic and vest - he muttered a curse at all the damn _layers_ - greedily seeking her bare flesh. As always she was hot and smooth, electricity that hypercharged every atom of him. She arched into him and let out a coo as his fingers feathered down her spine, then slipped under the waistband of her pants. She pulled away from his ear with an audible sucking noise to look him in the eyes. Her face was flushed. She reached up to caress his, drawing a finger down the scar crossing his eye.

"Anakin - " she started breathlessly, glancing in the general direction of the cockpit.

Sensing her question, he pulled away just long enough to move them both into a nearby supply closet, using the Force to seal the door shut behind them. Her quarters were not far, but he didn't think either of them could last that long. He knew he certainly couldn't. Three months apart may as well have been three thousand years. Part of Anakin distantly thought that even if Obi-Wan had managed to walk in on them at that point, he couldn't assure he'd be able to stop.

"He won't find us," Anakin assured her with another open-mouthed kiss, his flesh palm sliding further under her tunic to tease her rib cage, then slowly caress her breast. The deep moan and further arching of her back in reply told him she was hardly in the mood to argue the point. She gripped his shoulder armor and pinned him against the thrumming bulkhead. Anakin watched as her nimble fingers made short work of his utility belt and trousers. He set his teeth together when he felt her fingers circle around him, stroking him; he used every bit of restraint he had to not explode then and there.

Growling against her lips, immediately he lifted one of her slender legs and set to tugging off her boot and pant leg. Never removing his eyes from hers, he planted a kiss on the sensitive flesh of the inside of her newly-bared thigh - she closed her eyes and hissed in appreciation as his tongue flicked against her skin - before freeing the second leg. Almost instantly Padmé had locked both bare legs around his waist, arms tightening behind his neck as if she were climbing a tree. He hardly noticed the weight, or Padmé's heels digging into his back.

The look in her eyes was all the assent he needed. He shifted her just slightly, so they were better aligned.

Eyes locked with hers, he pushed into Padmé's warm, waiting body. Both gasped at the sensation of joining. For a moment it nearly overwhelmed him, the feeling of being inside her, surrounded by her, again after so many long months. He reined in his desire as much as he could, giving her body time to become accustomed to him again. There came a small, feminine snarl of frustration as she tried to roll her hips, to lock her legs even more tightly around him, pushing until he was fully sheathed within her. Her head fell back once more as he hit _that_ point inside her - the one he knew only _he_ would ever touch, a knowledge that made him feel more giddy with power than any battleground victory. She looked at him through glittering eyes above flushed cheeks framed by tousled hair - by the Force, she was so beautiful.

They began to move together in a steady, rocking rhythm. His shoulder armor scraped against the wall of the closet. One small hand grazed down his neck and chest to roam under his tunic. Even in their frenzied state she took a few moments to marvel at his physical form, hands eagerly mapping his firm abdominal muscles and broad chest, leaving trails of fire in their wake. Ideally, she would spend several minutes luxuriating in this, cataloging the new scars he'd acquired in her absence and branding them hers with her lips, but that would have to wait this time. He sped up his thrusts, and nipped her throat once before seeking out her lips again. She whimpered under his lips, but it was hardly a whimper of pain. His heart was threatening to beat out of his chest and he felt something coil tighter and tighter within him as Padmé's own internal muscles fluttered and clenched tighter and harder around him -

Padmé let out a wordless cry as she came, stiffening then relaxing as she leaned bonelessly into him to keep her balance. Several moments later with another shout he came as well, spilling into her with all the relief of three months' waiting finally ended. They remained joined for some minutes afterwards, still caressing each other under their tunics, listening to one another's breathing.

She pressed a kiss to his forehead, brushing a sweaty lock out of his undoubtedly flushed face. "I'll take that to mean you missed me too," she said with a smile that made him melt.

"Will I see you tonight?" he murmured, voice husky with need, as Padmé pulled his pants back up and fastened them, then bent down to retrieve her own pants and hair clasp. Anakin watched, nearly hardening again at the uninterrupted view of her shapely legs and backside. "Obi-Wan always retires early."

She fastened her own pants, stepping up on tiptoe to press another kiss to his nose. "Then count on it. But this time let's try to make it to a bed, okay?"

"You were the one who chose to stop here and climb me." Anakin's smile turned devilish, his hands reaching around to catch her by her hips. "I make no promises."

She laughed. "You're hopeless."

"But you love me?"

She rolled her eyes, but gladly returned the brush of his lips, reaching up to cup his face. He instinctively turned to inhale her scent, letting out a shuddering breath. Her smile softened. "Always."

"And I think I hear Obi-Wan coming," he added.

"What?" She nearly bumped her head jerking it around to look, even though the door was still closed. She turned back and saw him shaking with suppressed laughter. She narrowed her eyes and swatted him on the arm. "You'll pay for that one, Skywalker."

"I intend to, Mrs. Skywalker."

-

**[end]****  
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